Sorry for the delay! Life just caught up with me. Let me know what you think! Thanks for the reviews, flows and faves! It's much appreciated.
Light filtered through the cracks of the curtain, giving the bedroom a golden hue. Everything was warm inside; their bed, their bodies, their room. Will and Alicia's bodies were tangled up in each other and she awoke to wet kisses at the back of her neck. She felt his steady breathing against her and instinctively she pulled his arms tighter around her.
"Mm, good morning." Will murmured against her ear, voice still low from sleep.
"Good morning." She sighed quietly. They managed to sleep completely naked from last night, something that was dangerous because of Emma's sudden cuddle outbursts.
"We should get dressed but I'm just so damn comfortable." His lips brushed over her shoulder, relishing the taste of her skin.
Alicia shifted so he laid on top of her and she squeezed his middle to feel his weight. "We have a little bit of time, it's okay for a little while longer." She murmured against his lips.
"You're on dangerous ground, Mrs. Gardner. You know that we don't have enough time to do what you're planning." He rested most of his weight on his elbows and allowed his fingers to entwine in her hair. Her hair was always one of his favorite things about her. It smelled familiar. Like home.
"Emma has been sleeping in for the past few days..." Alicia murmured against his lips, grinding her body up and down his.
Will groaned and Alicia smiled victoriously. "Insatiable..." he sighed into her mouth.
Just as his lips met her neck, a knock came from the other side of the door. And a squeaky voice called out for her parents.
"Damn it." Alicia groaned and her arms dropped beside her.
"Save it for later, you vixen." He kissed the side of her mouth and rolled off the bed.
For 12 o'clock in the afternoon, the pizza place was quiet and almost empty. This was there favorite place to take the girls. Emma loves the pizza and the small occasion of having a soda. Alicia wished Grace was here, but she was spending the next few days with Peter. She remembered taking Grace here when she had to tell her about Will's proposal. Alicia had shown of the ring to her daughter with a proud, almost giddy smile.
"Emma, can you put the crayon down please? Do you want cheese pizza or pepperoni pizza?" Alicia asked as she gently took the purple crayon away from her.
"I want bacon!" Emma exclaimed, her eyes scanning the kids menu.
"Bacon?" Alicia asked, her gaze shifting back and forth from Emma to Will. "Since when do you eat bacon on your pizza?"
"Daddy made it for breakfast and I want to put it on my pizza." Emma shrugged.
"You sure you want bacon on it?" Will cut in. "We're not going to get something different if you don't like it."
"I want it. I'll like it." She replied and reached for her crayons. "I'm feeling atenderous."
"Atenderous?" Alicia repeated.
"Yeah, like when Dora goes to all those cool places."
"Adventurous." Will chuckled. "Adventurous, Em."
"That's what I said!" Emma protested. "And I want a Pepsi, please!"
"If our daughter becomes a junk food junkie, I'm blaming you." Alicia joked as she pulled a small toy out of the diaper bag and handed it to a fussy Libby.
"You're like the food nazi, a little bacon won't hurt her." He opened the other package of crayons and handed them to Emma.
"If her stomach starts to hurt at the aquarium, you're on potty duty." Alicia smirked and raised her eyebrow.
The food came quickly and Emma, as promised, ate two whole pieces. She wiped her pizza sauce stained cheeks and flashed a smile to her mother. The aquarium wasn't too far from the pizza place so when they arrived, Emma was still hyper from the Pepsi she scarfed down.
"Mommy, I have to potty." Emma tugged on Alicia's hand as they were looking at the manatees.
"Ah, Will, honey," Alicia called out in a sing song voice, "Em has to use the restroom."
Will sauntered over with Libby in his arms. "Alright, duty calls I guess." He teased back and the two switched daughters.
Walking back from the bathroom, Will and Emma were stopped by a crowd watching the whales being fed. Before he knew it, Emma's tiny hand slipped out of his as they were shuffled in with strangers.
Will's heart dropped to his stomach as his eyes scanned the crowd. He shouted her name again and pushed people out of the way in search for his daughter.
She was just here.
"Emma!" Will's shout was from his belly. His hands were shaking and sweating with the fear of losing Emma. "Em! Emma!" He shouted once again, taking in the fact that she was not answering him and no where to be found.
Searching the exhibit from every angle, Will found himself searching for any hint as to where his daughter would be. He stopped strangers, asking them if they've seen a little girl with curly brown hair and they all said no.
"Will?" Alicia's frantic voice asked from behind him. "Where's Emma?" She saw his empty arms and the wild look in his eyes. Something was wrong.
Will turned around to see his wife holding their youngest tight with tears threatening to spill. It looked like she already knew the answer.
"I-I don't know..." he muttered as he tore his eyes away from hers and approached the security guard with 911 already dialed.
"Brown hair, yeah, I said curly... uh she was wearing a pink and yellow shirt..." Will spoke quickly and over the other voices in the kitchen.
"No, we were at the aquarium, she was with us at the pizza place." Alicia clarified on the phone with a pen shaking in her hand. As soon as they arrived at home, she called every personal investigator she remembered and told them the details of how Emma had disappeared. Kalinda was over in a flash, talking to the police officers that filled the Gardner household.
"Alicia..." Kalinda hugged her friend as soon as she walked inside. She felt Alicia tremble.
"I think this is my fault." Alicia whispered in a broken voice before pulling away from the hug.
"It's not your fault. You can't think like that."
"I should've done something or at least told Will." Alicia pulls Kalinda to the side away from the cop's prying eyes and Will's worry. "God, how could I be so stupid?"
"Have you told him yet?" Kalinda asked.
Alicia looked down at her feet. Fresh tears sprung in her eyes once she realized the magnitude of her ignorance. Would Will ever forgive me?
"Alicia, you need to tell Will. And the police." She urged, tugging on Alicia's hand to get her attention. "I have to tell them everything I know."
"I know, I know," Alicia nods and wiped her tears, "anything to get her back."
"We're going to find her. I promise you, we'll find her." Kalinda pledges before making her way to the police.
Alicia walked over to Will and placed a gentle hand on his back. He was on the phone with one of their private investigators from the list. His shoulders were slumped and he held his face in his hands.
"Will," Alicia spoke once he hung the phone up, "I need to talk to you."
Will looks at his wife and both of their hearts crumble for different reasons. Both are worried sick, Alicia feels like she needs to vomit until she can't anymore. She can't think straight, all she can think about is Emma and who might have her. Alicia's bones chilled and hands trembled as she pulled her husband to the side.
"I need to tell you something, but you have to listen before you say anything." Alicia cleared her throat and fiddled with her wedding ring, anything to keep her cool as she looked into Will's sad eyes.
"When you were away, this guy came to the door and he knew my name. He said that if you didn't convict Nick, I'd be sorry. He was so scary, Will, he had this crazy look in his eyes." Alicia explained in a choppy voice, tears and the lump in her throat making it difficult to speak.
"Who was he?" Will asked, crossing his arms and expression hardening.
"His name is Jack Willis, he's Daniel's brother."
Will paused for a moment. "Why didn't you tell me about this?"
"I didn't think it was that big of a deal," she spoke honestly, "it wasn't the first time someone has threatened us about a case-"
"But it was the first time someone showed up at our house!" Will interrupted rather loudly, receiving glares from the police.
Alicia was visibly shaking now. "I didn't think he would do anything. I didn't think he was serious."
"What?" Will asked, astounded. "You don't know this guy, Alicia. How the hell can you make judgment calls like that?"
"I'm sorry, I-"
"Did you even look into it? Who is this guy?"
Alicia's gaze wavered to Kalinda. "I told Kalinda about what happened and she looked him up."
"You told Kalinda? And you didn't think to say anything to me? C'mon, Alicia, you can't be that dumb." Will spat.
Alicia wiped her tears and steeled herself from his words. She took his words like bullets, stinging and willing to feel the pain.
This is all my fault.
"I know I was wrong. I know it's my fault, I should've told you, but how could I know that he'd do something like this?" She defended, but her words falling quiet.
Will clenched his jaw and shook his head. "You need to tell the police." He walked away as he spoke.
As he passed Kalinda, he pulled on her arm. "How dare you keep something like this from me? This could be a matter of life or death for my daughter."
Kalinda swallowed thickly, but before she could respond, Will was already back in the kitchen with his phone glued to his ear.
Alicia laid in bed, back ram rod straight, with her eyes glued to the ceiling. The bed was cold without Will and it wasn't like before, she felt like she was laying in a coffin. Awaiting her death, deservingly. She couldn't fall asleep alone especially now. Purposely blinding herself from Emma's bedroom, she made her way downstairs to the couch.
Will was fast asleep, his arm strewn across his stomach and he looked so peaceful. Calm. Beautiful. All she wanted to do was curl up on the couch with him and tell him how much she was hurting too.
"Will," Alicia whispered, "Will..." When he didn't budge, she kneeled beside him and with a feather light touch she cupped his cheek.
Everything hit her at once. The loss of Emma, Will's words to her and the fact that he hated her so much that he wouldn't lay in the same bed as her. She hated feeling so weak and fragile, but when it came to her children, she was a broken bird. A gasp escaped her lips as she kneeled on the living room floor and before she knew it, tears were brimming her eyes and a few escaped.
"Will, please..." she begged a little louder to wake him up. He awoke with a start and opened his eyes and laid perfectly still. He was afraid to move as if she would crumble from his touch.
"Can I sleep with you? Please?" Alicia sobbed, her eyes pleading him. She pulled her hand away from his face in fear of rejection.
"Alicia, oh come here." Will pulled her into his arms and swallowed a lump in his throat. She couldn't even look at him, as soon as she was in his embrace, Alicia hid her face in his neck. The warm breath and hot tears tickled Will's neck, but all he focused on was Alicia quite literally falling a part in his arms.
Her lithe body was shaking from the magnitude of her sobs. He underestimated her strength and was blind to his own nasty words. He knew it wasn't her fault and he knew she blamed herself and would continue to blame herself forever. Even when... if they found Emma.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." Alicia apologized profusely with her fingers grasping his night shirt, "please forgive me. I can't take it."
He was officially the worst husband in the existence of mankind. Here was his wife, his mourning, sad wife who was missing their daughter just was much as he was, and all he did was blame her and leave her alone. He knew Alicia too, he knew that she would drive herself crazy alone.
"It's okay. I'm sorry, Leesh, I love you." He whispered against her ear, knowing that she needed to hear that last part. "I love you, Alicia. And we'll get through this, we will find her."
Just this morning, they were in this same position but for a completely different reason. Just this morning he uttered the same words of love to her, but it meant so much more to her now.
"C'mon, let's go to bed." Will attempted to move but she stopped him.
"No," she lifted her eyes to his, "stay here. I want to sleep here."
Will was taken aback by his wife's eyes. They were puffy and rimmed red, there usual hazel sparkle was long gone. He adjusted so she lay more comfortably tucked into his side. He embraced her with everything her had, which wasn't enough for an apology.
"Okay, we'll stay here." His hand snaked under her shirt and rubbed his hand over the small of her back, something he found awhile ago that soothed her.
"I just can't walk past her room again. Not tonight." Alicia murmured, shutting her eyes and all she could see behind her eyelids were Emma from today. Her hair in the braids that Alicia did for her that morning, her smile when she saw all the colorful fish and Emma's tiny fingers latching onto hers. "I feel sick to my stomach thinking about where she could be."
"Don't think about."
"She's all I can think about." She answered honestly. "All I hear is her voice, Will."
Silent tears soaked through his shirt as she listened to his heart thump. Alicia's once cold body was warm from his heat. She struggled to find her breath, but his fingertips running up and down her back soothed her for the time being.
"It's all I hear too." Will admitted. "If it's anyone's fault, it's mine. She was with me."
"No," Alicia popped her head up to meet his broken eyes, "it's not. We can't think like this."
She bit her lip as a tear fell down his cheek. He hadn't fallen apart yet and Alicia feared she wouldn't be strong enough for him.
"I just want her back. I can't stand thinking about who that sick monster is." He said with fists held tight. "I want to kill him. If I ever see that bastard, he's dead."
"You should've seen him. When he came to the door, he looked insane." Alicia shivered. "Oh my god Will, what has happened..."
An onslaught of tears hit Alicia and Will at the thought of their little girl in the hands of a monster. He kissed the top of her head when she emitted a quiet sob. This feeling of helplessness was terrible, there was virtually nothing the parents could do.
"We'll find her, Alicia." He mumbled against her hair.
Alicia sat up and wiped her tears fiercely. "I can't just stay in this house, we can't just do nothing. Sitting around and crying isn't doing her any good." She switched the light on in an instant and reached for her coat.
"Where are you going?" He sat up, confused and worried that she had cracked.
"I'm looking for our daughter." Alicia spoke as if it was normal.
"You can't just go out and look for her. There's nowhere to start, there's no lead or anything." Will tried to knock some sense into her.
"How can you stay so calm? Emma is out there probably hurt and scared." Alicia's voice grew louder and tenser. "She needs me, she needs her mom and I need to find her! I need her! Oh my god, she's gone, Will."
Alicia fell to the floor with hands covering her face. One would think she was out of tears, but they came full stream as she sobbed harder than ever. Will stood in shock for a second, her cries like nails on a chalk board to him. Will was always a sucker when it came to Alicia, and he hated seeing her weak. It made his heart ache. He sunk to the floor too and pulled her into his arms.
"Sh, Alicia, breathe..." Will murmured, "breathe, baby."
Alicia's arms tightened around her husband's neck as he pulled her in his arms. He held her like a baby, rocking her slightly. They sunk back to the couch with Alicia still in her coat. Neither spoke, the only sound was Alicia's sobs.
A few miles away, Emma sat in an unfamiliar room with tears streaming down her cherub cheeks, her cries the only sound too.
I know, it's really harsh and sad. But it's what I write best! Don't worry, I'm not that evil!